Depends what their purpose was. If they were raiding a rival neighbour they wanted to weaken, they would cut down the orchards, for example and dismantle defences. If they just wanted loot, either for the treasury, including slaves/hostages, or simply to pay their troops, then they'd just take the loot.
In the War of Granada 1482-92 raids (razzias)would often be to cut down trees, reduce Granada's food supply. Hostages from either side could be exchanged via the murky cross-border world of the Almogavares.
500 years earlier the 'terrible' Almanzor took raids north on a massive scale, bleeding the christian kingdoms dry, capturing thousands of slaves at a time and dismantling walls. He had a standing army approaching 70,000 (also funded from said raids) and no one knew where he would head for each campaign season. Here is a detail of his last (of 50-odd) such raids, from a source close to the time:
From 977 to 1002 the terrible Almanzor, Amiri de facto ruler or the Caliphate of Cordoba fought over 56 (some of the historical edges are a bit 'hazy') campaigns with his fearsome army of mainly mercenaries. Most of these were against the Christian Northern states and nearly all victorious...
historum.com
From 977 to 1002 the terrible Almanzor, Amiri de facto ruler or the Caliphate of Cordoba fought over 56 (some of the historical edges are a bit 'hazy') campaigns with his fearsome army of mainly mercenaries. Most of these were against the Christian Northern states and nearly all victorious (some against the Fatimids in Africa and at least one early one against muslim rebels). It would have been an awful time to live in the north. He was never interested in expanding his borders - despite a huge military advantage - because why kill the goose that lays the golden egg? Almost invariably these brought back to Cordoba slaves numbering in thousands and huge amounts of loot, famously including at one times, the bells from Santiago de Compostela, on the backs of the monks as slaves. This format of book (fact only) does not make a great read but it is interesting all the same
Ramon Grande del Brio has stripped away some of the speculation and 'filling in' of previous generations and analysed the known (sometimes scarce) facts of each campaign in turn, trying to identify locations that are unclear. About the very last formal campaign, May to August 1002, (Almanzor took sick and died on the way back), the 56th (toward La Rioja), he quotes M Bashir Hasan Radhi from an andalusian manuscript about 'things belicose', writing about the equipment his army carried:
"The corresponding belongings and baggage were transported on 250 mules using, besides, 4,000 camels for the heavy material. Almanzor also took 50 stallions and 700 horses, apart from those mounted by each and every one of the various riders of his army. Then, on the road from Cordoba to Medinaceli, he bought another 1000 horses. In that expedition, the army of Almanzor took and abundant and varied quantity of war equipment, including an arsenal of 200,000 arrows, together with diverse inflammable substances like oil, naptha, ashfalt and tar, used in the manufacture of flammable projectles. In the said campaign siege equipment was also used, amongst which featured 6 almajaneques (catapults with counter-balance), carried from Medinaceli"
No wonder he usually took the town and all in it!
And:
The ruthless tyrant Almanzor (Al Mansur)(938-1002), having assumed all power in the Caliphate of Cordoba and enhanced an already all-powerful military machine, took the hierarchical relationship of the Calpihate with the small Christian kingdoms to a point of complete domination and, basically...
historum.com
The ruthless tyrant Almanzor (Al Mansur)(938-1002), having assumed all power in the Caliphate of Cordoba and enhanced an already all-powerful military machine, took the hierarchical relationship of the Calpihate with the small Christian kingdoms to a point of complete domination and, basically, terror.
Between 977 and 1002 he embarked on upwards of 50 campaigns, mostly against the Christian kingdoms of Iberia with the aim of fortress destruction and gaining loot in the form of slaves and valuables for the purpose of enriching the economy and self-perpetuating his army itself - fed directly from said loot. There were also campaigns in North Africa and (in his early command) against Northern muslim territories controlled by his rival and father-in-law General Galib. He was hardly interested in border expansion (why kill the goose that lays the golden egg?), nor in the treaties that kept Christian countries subjugated under both earlier Caliphs and the later Almohad Empire - but was just a complete 'mean machine'. Although this status quo also continued under his first son and heir Abd Al Malik, until 2008, his incompetent second son Sanchuelo brought the whole house and with it the Calpihate of Cordoba, crashing down to leave a mass of weak taifa states of varying sizes (over 32), soon to fall vulnerable to Christian expansion and in turm lead to the Almoravid and Almoahd invasions over the next 200 years.
Between the 5th of May and the 23rd of July 985, Almanzor undertook his famous campaign against Barcelona. The army (and him) was fed and watered at the expense of the governor of Murcia, Ahmad b. 'Abd a-Rahman b. Jattab, for 13 or 23 days (ref. al-Abbar and al Fayyad) Then Count Borrell (probably unwisely) presented battle near the castle of Moncada, but suffered 500 casualties and was forced to retreat into Barcelona. According to the Christian chronicles the siege started on 1st July and Barcelona fell on the 6th. His army used almanjaneques (catapults) with which, according to el Dikr, he launched around 1000 Christian heads a day into the city (surely an exaggeration but unpleasant). It was then completely sacked and burned to the ground. Many of the inhabitants were killed or captured as slaves
Among the notables captured were the judge Orus, Arnulfo, archdeacon of Barcelona, 3 sons of Guinifisio Mascaro, Viscount of Gerona and Udalar, Viscount of Barcelona, who were all driven to Cordoba. Udalar and Arnulfo were not released until 6 years later.
According to el Dikr, Almanzor took 70,000 captives in the Barcelona campaign - this is clearly unlikely and 30 years earlier the population of Barcelona was registered at 2,000 (Bonassie). Against that it would contain many people from around and about seeking protection from Almanzor. The usual number of captives on his raids seems to be around 2 or 3 thousand, so one can surmise it was more than usual. Also the campaign lasted 2 and a half months, so many other towns, monasteries and castles were sacked in the process - in which case the total number of captives would be quite high indeed.
Count Borrell refuged to the hills in true Hollywood style until he could gather some knights to take it back, although resistance wouldn't have been great.
By way of rounding off 985, in August he sent an army, which he himself personally escorted to Algeciras, under his cousin Askalaya, to North Africa against the rebel al-Hasan b. Guennun. About this we know little else.
Side note - in June last year we visited Navarra and La Rioja, including the town of San Millan de la Cogolla. The new monastery (or de abajo) was constructed from 1053 - after Almanzor - but the old monastery (de suso or de arriba) dated from the arrival of the Visigoths in Spain. It was then reconstructed and used by mozarabes (Christians living under muslim rule ) until in 1002 it was looted and burned by Almanzor (later rebuilt). It is really out the back end of beyond, up a track and through an overgrown lane (despite the tourist minibuses) and how he found it would be a mystery.
Except of course we know there is always someone willing to help - in these times muslim armies always contained Christian mercenaries, dissenters or citizens. Wonderful thing money.
